To Place Graduates, Law Schools Are Opening Firms

By Logan Lafferty

When Douglas J. Sylvester, dean of the law school at Arizona State University, was visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota a couple of years ago he mentioned the shifting job market for his students — far fewer offers and a new demand for graduates already able to draft documents and interact with clients. The Mayo dean responded that his medical students and graduates gained clinical experience in hospital rounds closely supervised by attending physicians. “I realized that was what we needed,” Mr. Sylvester recalled. “A teaching hospital for law school graduates.”